John Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, to the House. I congratulate her and her colleagues, the Minister for Finance, Deputy McGrath, and the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, Deputy Donohoe, for their work, and all of their ministerial colleagues who have put a tremendous amount of work into budget 2024 over the last number of weeks and months. There is only one Opposition Member here in the Seanad, and that shows how much they have to give out about in the budget, which is not very much by the looks of it, if they cannot even bother to turn up in the Chamber. It is clear from listening to Opposition Members in both the Dáil and the Seanad, that they had their speeches written in advance of even hearing the Ministers, Deputies McGrath and Donohoe, in the Chamber today. They criticise and say it was not enough. The fact of the matter is that we are the envy of Europe as other governments, right at this very moment in time, are choosing between increasing taxes and reducing spending. Today the Government actually reduced taxation for middle-income earners, putting money back in people's pockets, while also increasing spending for those most vulnerable, and providing universal payments across the board with the likes of energy credits, increased school meals, increased renter's tax credit, and increased money across a whole host of areas in the education space, which is very close to my heart.

I welcome the changes we have made on taxation. It was really important that we continued the work we had been doing over the last number of years in order to increase that standard rate band. It is now at €42,000, enabling more middle-income earners to keep more of their hard-earned income in their pockets, while also reducing the universal social charge, USC and increasing tax credits.

I want to turn to housing for a moment. It really galls me to listen to Sinn Féin and the Opposition talking about a renter's tax credit of a month. Last week, Sinn Féin presented an alternative budget that provided for €1,000 of a renter's tax credit. That is what it provided for in its numbers. On the other side of it, it said it would take €30,000 away with the other hand. That is a bad bargain for any person who is looking to buy their first home. It will give €1,000 with one hand, and take €30,000 away with the other. That is what Sinn Féin proposed, and it tries to present that as a win for young people in trying to get a foot on the ladder. What we have done today is we have increased the help-to-buy scheme out to the end of 2025, and we have also introduced changes to what Senator Casey referenced regarding the lacuna between the affordable purchase scheme and the help-to-buy scheme. The changes are addressing that in that when both are combined, one can avail of it, although it has not been addressed yet in terms of the first home scheme.

We are putting a record €7 billion into a housing budget for 2024 in order to provide 9,300 social homes, new builds, and 6,400 affordable homes. There is no doubt that what we are saying regarding the retention of the likes of the help-to-buy and first home schemes will assist more people in getting a foot on the ladder. If one goes with the Opposition, which says it will take away those two essential supports for people, it will mean fewer people have a deposit. This will mean more builders will say there are fewer people to buy their product, which will mean fewer homes being built. That is the very last thing we need in an already constrained market.